The present invention relates generally to point of sale terminals, and, more specifically, to supervisory control thereof.
In a typical point of sale (POS) terminal, commonly known as a checkout terminal, one or more products may be presented by a customer for purchase. In the typical supermarket application, several products having barcodes thereon are read in turn by a barcode scanner, identified by the barcode thereon, and added to a list or tally for adding the prices thereof to complete the transaction.
The checkout terminal is computer controlled in most part and requires little effort by the customer or store operator in completing the purchase transaction. The individual items are simply swiped past the window of the barcode scanner and automatically read and added to the purchase list.
However, automatic operation of the terminal may be interrupted when a specific barcode is not recognized by the barcode scanner, or when a selling price is different than the regular price of the item stored in memory. For example, a specific item may be on sale and the lower sale price may not be properly entered into the lookup price database. Or, the specific item requires the manual entry of a corresponding price therefor for specifically identified products.
Furthermore, various errors may occur during operation of the terminal such as paper jams in the receipt printer, or depletion of the printing paper requiring the replacement with a new roll thereof.
A typical checkout terminal is manned by a store employee or operator who scans the products across the barcode scanner, packages the products being purchased, accepts payment for the transaction, and returns to the customer a tabulated receipt therefor.
In recent developments, self-service checkout terminals are being developed and introduced in service where the entire purchase transaction may be handled in most or all part by the customer or user themselves. The self-checkout terminal has security features contained therein which may be intentionally or inadvertently activated during customer use. Accordingly, intervention by a store operator or supervisor may be required to complete the purchase transaction for the customer.
Since the purchase of alcohol or tobacco, for example, is typically limited to adults by local laws or regulations, the purchase thereof at a self-checkout terminal will automatically alert a supervisor for assistance for ensuring the proper age of the customer.
In both types of checkout terminals described above, supervisory intervention may be required as indicated above for completing the purchase transaction. Supervisory control typically requires the supervisor to enter a supervisory or store mode of operation as distinguishable from the normal transaction mode of operation of the terminal for resolving the different types of terminal interruption. In a common form, the terminal is provided with an electrical key switch requiring the use of a common mechanical key for accessing the store mode of operation limited to certain store employees such as designated supervisors.
In another common form of supervision, each authorized supervisor has an associated supervisor identification (ID) number and a specific password suitably stored in the memory of the terminal or system memory authorizing access to the store mode when the proper ID and password are entered manually at the specific terminal.
Yet further, specifically configured electronic keys or scancards having magnetic stripes, for example, may be configured for accessing the store mode by authorized personnel.
However, these various modes of accessing the supervisory store mode of operation vary in complexity, cost, security, and ease of use.
Accordingly, it is desired to provide a checkout terminal with improved access to supervisory mode of operation.
A checkout terminal includes a barcode scanner, input interface, and receipt printer operatively joined to a processor for controlling operation thereof. The processor is programmed for operating the terminal in a transaction mode using the barcode scanner to read a product barcode to conduct a purchase transaction of a product. The processor is also programmed for operating in a store mode using the barcode scanner to read an supervisor barcode on a scancard presented by a supervisor for manually supervising the purchase transaction using the interface.